Woman bailed in East End ganja case

A woman charged with possessing ganja with intent to supply was granted bail when she appeared in Summary Court Monday morning.

Kristen Shequira Dixon, 24, was arrested in East End on Thursday, Feb. 7, and charged over the weekend, Crown counsel Scott Wainwright said.

He told Magistrate Valdis Foldats that police went to a yard in that district to execute a search warrant in an unrelated matter. They observed Ms. Dixon sitting close to a tree in the yard. On seeing the officers, she went into a house.

Asked by police whey she had left “in haste,” she allegedly told them that she was going to dispose of a small quantity of ganja. Officers found three wraps of vegetable matter and something not yet tested that they believed to be cocaine.

The officers checked the area by the tree and found a cellphone, a jar and a carrying bag. The jar had approximately 15 wraps of vegetable matter and the bag had 105 wraps. The total weight was in the region of half a pound, Mr. Wainwright said.

Police searched a vehicle parked close by, which was believed to belong to Ms. Dixon, and found $350 in cash. The defendant said she had been given the money by her mother to pay for car parts. She was subsequently charged with possession of criminal property.

Mr. Wainwright objected to bail. He agreed with the magistrate that the quantity of drugs involved could be considered to be “low level supply,” and it was not beyond the realm of possibility that she could get a suspended sentence. He asserted, however, that it was a criminal offense and a “menace to society.”

The defendant has previous convictions for simple possession and consumption of ganja, he noted.

Defense attorney Rupert Wheeler applied for bail, saying Ms. Dixon had never been in custody before and so she had found the past four days terrifying. He advised the court that she suffered from epilepsy and had been prescribed marijuana oil by a doctor, but sometimes smoked ganja also.

The magistrate said his recollection was that even if a person were charged with low-level dealing, he or she could be admitted to the Drug Rehabilitation Court. The difficulty with people using medical marijuana was that the drug would always be in their system and there was no way to test for illegal consumption, he said.

Magistrate Foldats said bail could be granted with strict conditions. These included a specified residence, a prohibition from being within 25 yards of the place where she had been arrested, and a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.